Joseph Wright at Yale

Here's a painting by a great British artist who was rightly admired in his day for his clever use of minimal lighting to create dramatic effects: Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797). He also produced fine portraits as well as his "candlelight" paintings. This example is Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candle-light (1765), one of the exhibits in Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool, which opened today at the Yale Center For British Art in New Haven, USA, and continues until 30 August. It was co-organized by the Center and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, a city built on the slave trade, a fact which the otherwise informative blurb ignores.